1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a thermoplastic packaging bag having a carrying handle and relates specifically to a heat shrinkable packsking bag having an integral carrying handle.
2. Description of the Related Art
An accepted method of vacuum packaging bulky food articles such as whole muscle meat products, brick cheese and poultry, is through the use of heat shrinkable bags. The food processor loads the food article into the bag and evacuates the bag to collapse it about the food product. The bag is sealed while in its evacuated condition by gathering the open end and clipping or by leaving flat and heat sealing. The sealed bag is then passed through a hot water bath or hot air tunnel or other method of heating to shrink the sealed bag about the food product. Shrinking the bag in this fashion closely conforms the bag to the contour of the food product thereby making an attractive, generally wrinkle-free package.
Poultry items such as turkeys and other whole birds present several problems for this type of packaging. For example, the poultry carcass is generally the shape of a tear drop having a broad rounded breast portion tapering to the tail of the bird. The tear drop shape is accentuated by the customary practice of folding the legs of the bird close to the body and binding the end of the legs to the tail of the bird. This tear drop shape does not lend itself to formation of a substantially wrinkle free package.
A bag fabricated to accommodate a whole bird, generally has front and rear panels composed of a heat shrinkable plastic film which are heat sealed together at the closed end of the bag. It is common to have the closed end of the bag convex to accommodate the broad rounded breast of the bird. The opposite open end of the bag must be wide enough to receive the bird which is inserted breast first into the bag. The open end of the bag is then gathered about the tall of the bird and closed with a metal clip. This procedure pulls the bag close to and along the more tapered parts of the bird. Heat shrinking the pulled and gathered bag material provides an aesthetically pleasing appearance to the packaged bird.
Another problem related to packaging turkeys and the like in shrink bags is that the resulting packaged product is bulky, relatively heavy, usually frozen, and difficult to grasp and lift manually. Therefore it is desirable to provide a carrying handle to facilitate handling the vacuum packaged product. For this purpose several different methods of providing a carrying been developed. A separate handle may be attached to the packaged product at the clip closure. The packaged product may be inserted into a netting which is gathered and clipped to provide a carrying handle. An integral handle may be produced by cutting a cut out in the gathered flap portion of the bag and reinforcing the periphery of the cut out with a grommet to inhibit tear initiation under carrying or hanging load conditions. All of these methods of prodding a carrying handle require additional processing steps and materials thereby increasing the packaging costs.
Preferably, the handle should be formed integral with the bag to avoid the added expense and processing steps of attaching a separate handle to the packaged product. Furthermore, an integral handle should not require additional material reinforcing devices and the consequent additional processing steps in packaging the product. Also preferably, the integral handle is located on the breast end of the packaged bird. This allows the packaged bird to be carried with the tail end down protecting the valuable breast of the product from damage due to impacting hard objects during display, and transportation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,025 (Weinberg et. al.) discloses a shrink bag having an integral handle forming portion. The bag is an "extended lip bag" wherein one panel extends beyond the bag open end. As disclosed in this patent, the handle is formed in the extended lip portion by punching a hot die through the lip to provide an opening having a heat seal extending continuously about the opening. This patent also discloses an integral handle wherein both bag panels extend past the product holding area of the bag. The handle is then formed in this dual panel extended lip portion by punching a hot die through the lip to provide an opening having a heat seal extending continuously about the handle opening. When this method is used to produce the integral handle a slit in one panel of the bag below the fused handle area is required to allow for the product to be placed therein. In either method upon heat shrinking, the extended lip thickens and forms a handle which protrudes longitudinally from the resulting package.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,553 (Kupcikevicius) discloses a shrink bag having an integral handle forming portion. The bag is also a so called "extended lip bag" wherein the bag is shaped to receive the bird in a tail first entry mode and the extended lip portion which has a slit that forms the integral handle is located at the bird tall end of the package. However, the industry practice of packaging turkeys and other poultry, with their wings folded and positioned against the sides of the breast area prevents easy loading of the bird into a bag in a tail first manner. Additionally, breast first loading allows the protective skin flap over the neck bone to remain in position to help prevent bag damage by this sharp neck bone. As a result commercial packing of turkeys and other poultry is done in a breast first loading orientation. The teaching requires that the handle so formed is drawn to the package seal area, preferably over the packaged product itself and does not extend away from the packaged product to allow for easy package pick up by the integral handle. This patent also does not appreciate the advantageous handle cut out shape which distributes handle stress more evenly and substantially reduces tear propagation in the shrink bag film.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,974,968 (Mandus et. al.), discloses a thermoplastic bag with a handle hole and narrow lugs having holes therein. The narrow lugs may be either end of the bag to allow it to be suspended for filling. Bags of this type are useful for packaging baby diapers for example. Likewise U. S. Pat. No. 4,779,996 (Sengewald), discloses a plastic foil pouch having pin holes at one end of the pouch to allow it to be suspended for filing. Examples of products suitable for packaging include baby diapers and bread. Neither of these patents appreciates the novel handle of the present invention, nor does it address the problem of load stress on the bag handle during transportation of a heavy product.